going to help arm the syrian rebels in their fight against that country's leader, president bashar al assad. and the other thing that mitt romney will pledge to do in this speech later this morning is reverse some of those steep defense cuts that are part of that fiscal cliff that is looming at the end of the year. and here is one excerpt from the speech that we'll be hearing from mitt romney later on this morning. it goes after a chief theme of president obama. not only over his presidency but over his first campaign. here it is. it says, quote, i know the president hopes for a safer, freer and more prosperous middle east allied with the united states. i share this hope. but hope is not a strategy. we cannot support our friends and defeat our enemies in the middle east when our words are not backed up by deeds, when our defense spending is being arbitrarily and deeply cut, when we have no trade agenda to speak of and the perception of our strategy is not one of partnership, but of passivity. soledad, yesterday some of his senior foreign policy advisers had a conference call with reporters.